Dan Ulmer: A wonderful summer concludes

Okay, I may have lost both my loyal readers with my rant last week so I’m kinda hopin’ I can get them back aboard this week… then again maybe not.

So here we are at the end of summer 2012 and after in-depth interviews with thousands of locals, I’ve put together the following report (okay, so it wasn’t thousands; just a few folks, family members, and my recollections):

As you may know, the summer of 2012 came by shortly after the winter of 2012 which, as you may recall, was voted one of the nicest winters we’ve ever had the pleasure of suffering through. Well summer followed suit and, unlike them city slickers whose only experience with weather is when they go from the house to work and back, lake folk actually spend most of their time out there in the weather… and the Lake Tschida folks have affirmed that 2012 really has been a nice summer.

We coulda used a little more rain, but, since perfection is something to strive for but not necessarily achieve, we lake folks were quite happy with the summer of 2012.

Lake season started in April this year and after chasing all the wildlife out that moves into our cabin after we move out for the winter, things nicely fell into place for a change. Nothing major blew up (recall last year the sewer pipe under the cabin exploded, causing me to never ever want to go into the crawl space again). The big project this year involved making another terrace out front and, of course, we clipped the satellite cable with the Bobcat, and it took a month for the satellite company to locate us.

Then the Mrs. wanted the shed painted green and I somehow managed to pick John Deere green, which did not go over well, causing me to get more paint and do it over in a deeper green. I used one of those sprayer things and, of course, that blew up all over me once again, affirming that I should always let someone else paint. However, the shed now has four coats of paint which should last well into the next century.

Outside of that we spent most of our time out here playing. Lake Tschida this year was incredibly clear. Usually the lake fills with algae to the point where folks have to hunt for a clear spot. This year it was amazingly clear as I found myself in neck deep water and could not only see but count my toes. There were a few days when the lake threatened to green up but it cleared up again. We lakers think it has something to do with runoff from feed lots and field chemicals, and we’d sure like it if clear water became the norm… but we’re not in charge, so that’s wishful thinking.

We really supported the petroleum industry this summer with all the lake toys that we’ve somehow accumulated over the years (pontoon, Abe’s speed boat, two jet skis, two four wheelers, golf cart). We charged all this gas to Kelci at North Shore Resort and we’re hoping that since she’s now a seventh grader she can find enuf work this winter to pay off the tab by next summer.

So I’ve been over using the word so. So I’ll continue on and say that the summer of 2012 will go down as a real fine summer, and I’m hoping that the fall will be the same. However, I’m not quite sure about winter as the Mayans predicted the world will end on 12/21/12. Since 12/21 is the first day of winter, I’m hoping that the Mayans really meant to tell us that winter will be permanently replaced with a longer spring… but alas, I’ve had all sorts of hopes dashed before, so I’ll just take whatever I can get…